DVR Hell
Mark Harris at Entertainment Weekly writes about what piles up on his DVR: quality programs he finds himself unable or unwilling to watch, instead turning to shorter, lighter fare.
The oldest movie on our Tivo is Guys and Dolls (1955)–three hours long, and recorded at least a year and a half ago during Oscar month at Turner Classic Movies. There never seems to be enough time, or the right mood, for a 3-hour 50’s musical.
As Harris notes, the same reluctance applies to books and music. I wonder, how many others besides me are feeling bad that they’d not yet read David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest? It’s been on my shelf for a decade.
September 16th, 2008 at 9:57 am
At least you have Infinite Jest on your shelves. I’ve picked it up at the store many times and felt intimidated by it. I love his essays, though.
September 18th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Ok… You MUST watch Guys and Dolls! Brando and Sinatra - Swoon!
Plus, Jean Simmons as the pious Sarah Brown… it is such a fun movie. Of course, the singing is awful. But the play is such fun! Songs like “Take back your Mink” are priceless.
September 19th, 2008 at 11:10 am
I am guilty of checking out books I “should” read (I have a Jean-Paul Sartre book in my stack now) and then avoiding them until it is time to take them back to the library. However, the stuff that clogs my DVR isn’t that highbrow. The last three episodes of Grey’s Anatomy have been sitting on my DVR since May. I lost interest in the show during the writers’ strike, but I don’t want to delete the episodes just in case previews of the new season make me want to start watching the show again.